channing316 wrote:
I am about a semester away from having my Associates degree in Commercial Digital Photography.

Associate's degrees are not accepted or recognized as real degrees in Finland. Most people in Finland who have degrees have master's, or at minimum a bachelor's. Even if your degree was a 4 year degree, it would still not be something you could likely find work with here, especially without being fluent in the language. To be honest, it doesn't sound like you or your husband have any qualifications or skills that are in demand in Finland.

At least photography relies more on portfolio than the degree. Then again it means starting a company and dealing with customers. Customers that think anyone with dslr is pro. And speak Finnish.

Re: American family moving to Finland

Upphew wrote:
At least photography relies more on portfolio than the degree. Then again it means starting a company and dealing with customers. Customers that think anyone with dslr is pro. And speak Finnish.

And don't forget competing with a plethora of natives with similar or better qualifications who are vying for the same work, who have the advantage of years of established contacts and network through friends/family/school. Not saying it can't be done but you need to stand out somehow, offer something the others don't.

Food is not better here in Finland. Food IS NOT cheap here in Finland.... And the variety.... What variety? Most meat, what you can get apart from minced meat is cover in the lovely orange preservative they love using here. Forget about eating T-bone steaks, yummy lamb chops etc. If you can even find them, somewhere in the middle of Helsinki and pay the huge price for them.

Guys, how often have you gone to a store to buy some fruit or vegies and seen they are practically uneatable? Only places which seem to sell pretty decent fruit and vegies are Lidl and the Stockmann supermarket in Helsinki. And Lidl is a little cheaper than normal stores, but doesn't have a lot of variety. How I'd love to sink my teeth into a Granny Smith apple which is actually fresh and has that insanely tangy sour taste. Not the crap god knows how old apples here.

Wait... Bananas! They seem to be the only fruit which actually comes here not even ripe LOL. So they're fine

The poster has painted some kind of perfect picture of Finland. Yes, we have a whole lot of good things here. Great education, peaceful, safe etc. Down sides are often the culture.... It will be a shock for a loud polite talkative socialising American to turn up in Finland to be greeted with silence and almost no customer service to speak of. And.... TAXES.... You prepared to lose a crapload of your wages in taxes? And then to add on top of that, the high cost of living? Much higher than America. Living in a tiny 2 bedroom flat if you can even afford that with how many children was it you had, 3? Yourself and your husband? In some crappier area of Helsinki, because it's all you can afford. Granted even the crappier areas don't compare to crappy areas in America.

You wrote your husband doesn't like the cold. Is he going to like -30 degrees? Or even colder the further north you go? Or the fact we pretty much have cold weather for roughly 7-8 months a year.

How will you even get here? You and your hushand have nothing to offer Finland that any Finn could do themselves. You don't even know the language. Or have any ties here.

I am not trying to put you down and be so negative, but we've had so many posters on this board go on and on about how wonderful life would be in Finland. It's their dream country. They have no ties to the country whatsoever, but seem to think they can come here and have a great life. Get a job and just be merry. And it's so far from the truth.

Why can't you look at countries which would have closer ties to your own? Australia has very strict rules for getting into it. But you can look up their government website and take their test which would tell you if your skills are needed there. Then you could apply there. It often just beats Finland in all the statistics of best countries in the world to live in (just below for education, but still way above America). They speak English there and you'd have an easier time.

And you are incorrect with your statement that the whole world is having problems economically. There are actually countries in the world doing quite fine. With a lot lower unemployment rates than Finland etc. So you should too read up about that before making such a bold statement.

I wish you luck, whatever you will do.

If you do actually get to come here. Be prepare to have a crapload of money on you. You're going to need it.

First I don't know if there is a country in the world that will grant it's citizenship to a foreigner unless: he's super rich (Bill Gates (and his money) will probably get citizenship in Finland right away), smart like Einstein, maybe some VIP, or have some relatives born in that country (parents, grand parents) ... if you know any please enlight me. As others mentioned you probably refer to resident permit and that is what you have to sort out first! My self a foreigner from EU moved here 5 years ago because my wife she's finnish. And yes I had at first a resident permit (permanent, EU stuff rules) and got CITIZENSHIP after 4 year and 9 months of living here permanently and passing a finnish language exam.

I will guess the best will be to get a study permit rather then work permit because you don't have a proper education and experience and that will make it harder. Just google or search this forum are quite many posts about studying in Finland.

I love Finland and I consider Finland my home country (your home is where your heart is ) and life in here is really good! I recommend you first to make a research about Finland so you will know where you will come! It might be a shock as it was for me when I was in US first time ... people dumb-smiling and asking every single step "how are you sir today ?". At first I thought they really care how I am then I realized is a routine for them so I started to ignore them "LEAVE ME ALONE, I WANT TO GO BACK HOME WHERE PEOPLE ARE QUITE AND NOBODY HARASSES ME IN THE MORNING WITH DUMB QUESTIONS"!!! So yeah in Finland you don't get that, people are more quite, and if you want to know something you have to start the discussion and pretty much the discussions are not long, quite short and short answers because this is Finland the language and the people and to be frankly I love it! At least I don't hear and get all the discussions !"#¤% I was used in my former home country (10 people talking [screaming] at the same time and nobody understands anything). So yeah make your research before you come here about Finland, people and language.

You are paid based on education, field, experience and so on ... of course there is a minimum wage but I have no idea how much it is (maybe 8 something euros?). That means if you have a good education you will get a good job and good salary and now is the funny part: good salary means "good taxes to pay" and yep the taxes are the way they are, so you can get free education, health services and so forth. Car prices and taxes are high and if you leave in a city the public transportation is quite good you don't need a car but in country side a car is a must. Prices are quite high compared to US starting from food, clothes, houses (rent/buy) and all other things. This in fact is the only thing I liked in US, the prices. I bough some boots with 40$ and in Helsinki were 270€ quite a difference! But yes, prices are quite high for anything compared to US. Customer service is quite different then US. You can't go back to grocery store with a package of cheese after you have eat half of it, to return it and get your money back, a smile and an apology from the personnel because you are disappointed off the cheese. And yeah there are no people at the grocery store greeting you when you come in! If that will happen in Finland I will turn away and leave from that shop and never come back !

The language is a must! Although pretty much anybody in Finland speaks/understands english, knowing the language is a must and you have to learn it so you will integrate in the society! I know I give advises about language and my self I don't speak it fluently! But yeah I'm learning it!

So my final advise: you have to make your own research about Finland so you will get the picture about the country, people and life here!

All the best!

P.S. Finnish people are honest, serious and they meant what they say, punctuality is very important! When I moved here I was amazed about many things but the honesty of those people is really what I appreciate the most! But sadly that is changing slowly because of us, foreigners! After I moved here, when I went back home one day I told my father: "If I will have to trust with my life any friend of mine that I know since I was a kid that we have grown up together and a finnish person that I meet today, I will choose to trust the finnish person!". So yes I kinda understand why you want to move here because I am happy to live my life in this wonderful country and I will always be grateful to Finland and finnish people!

Last edited by Alex.Sm on Fri Nov 15, 2013 10:54 am, edited 3 times in total.

in summary:
if you are single/couple with no kids in good shape (as in virtually no health problems), low taxes and love for guns then try somewhere else.
if you have kids or health problems and love to pay high taxes, comparatively low salaries, high prices of goods/commodities/rentals, limited choices, silent life (well not that silent), comparatively hard language, Brussels is your appointed daddy, no hooters restaurants then try Finland.

Oombongo wrote:in summary:
if you are single/couple with no kids in good shape (as in virtually no health problems), low taxes and love for guns then try somewhere else.
if you have kids or health problems and love to pay high taxes, comparatively low salaries, high prices of goods/commodities/rentals, limited choices, silent life (well not that silent), comparatively hard language, Brussels is your appointed daddy, no hooters restaurants then try Finland.

One comment: there is or at least was in Tampere a club called: Big Tits

Oombongo wrote:in summary:
if you are single/couple with no kids in good shape (as in virtually no health problems), low taxes and love for guns then try somewhere else.
if you have kids or health problems and love to pay high taxes, comparatively low salaries, high prices of goods/commodities/rentals, limited choices, silent life (well not that silent), comparatively hard language, Brussels is your appointed daddy, no hooters restaurants then try Finland.

One comment: there is or at least was in Tampere a club called: Big Tits

Seems to be a classy place: "All of our dancers are by the way non married."

Look, some people on the forum are a little "grumpy" - I've been accused of being a grumpy, bitter old racist myself by someone on the forum...........BUT, noone wants to be mean to you, it's just that the forum oldtimers read posts like yours and just can't help snorting at what is frankly your innocence about the whole thing.

It sounds as if you are not liking what you are seeing in the US at the moment and not happy about your childrens' prospects for the future there, so you are shopping around a little to see if there are other options. Nothing wrong with that - people have done it since time began - it's called migration.............The problem is that just as the US does not have an open border policy, neither does Finland. You cannot simply arrive here to settle down. UNLESS:

a.You are citizens of another european union country (maybe one of you has an EU passport)

b.One or both of you have amazing skills which Finland badly needs, and even in that case, you probably have to get the job before you arrive

c.You have tons of cash and can set yourselves up here for 90 days (period of a holiday visa) and you find an amazing job within that time-frame

Finland is not actively looking for immigrants, there is fairly high youth unemployment and to be entitled to the admittedly generous welfare benefits, you have to be "in the system" which you are not and have no entry into it as far as I can see. Not meaning to be cruel, but a non-finnish speaking forklift driver and non-finnish speaking quasi-college graduate does not have anything specific to offer Finland, on paper, and they look at the paper. Believe me.....

The only option I can see at the moment is if you have enough cash to both come here as students, learn ace Finnish while studying and then move into the world of work. It just does not work the way you might have thought, ie.: arrive, get a job etc.

A 1980 el Camino! That won't make it over, and if you could get it over here please note that gas here is around $8 a gallon. If I remember correctly, the mileage was very poor on a early 80s el Camino

biscayne wrote:Look, some people on the forum are a little "grumpy" - I've been accused of being a grumpy, bitter old racist myself by someone on the forum...........BUT, noone wants to be mean to you, it's just that the forum oldtimers read posts like yours and just can't help snorting at what is frankly your innocence about the whole thing.

It sounds as if you are not liking what you are seeing in the US at the moment and not happy about your children's prospects for the future there, so you are shopping around a little to see if there are other options. Nothing wrong with that - people have done it since time began - it's called migration...

You're right. I suppose I have been a little naive in my thinking. We're too young, too inexperienced, and too poor to have another country want us to stay there... I suppose I was hoping a little too hard that it would be doable, that our reasoning would be sound enough to be accepted, but from what everyone has said, it's pretty much not going to happen... Maybe if it were just one of us wanting to go there, it would work, but not two, plus 3 small children.

I don't think anyone here has been mean, or "grumpy," (ok maybe a little grumpy) but bluntly honest. And I greatly appreciate everyone's honesty in the matter. It's preferable to, "Oh honey YOU CAN DO IT. blah blah blah Power of belief, blah Come here and it'll be fine." I'd rather people hurt my feelings a little with honesty, than spare them with falsehoods. At least now I won't waste my time with the long process of applying and what not, just to ultimately be rejected. I can't say I'm not extremely disappointed that we will not be able to go over there as we want, but we'll make it work.

I still don't see a good future for my children here in the states, but I now know what we need to do, in order to leave the right way, and have a better chance of succeeding when we do choose to leave.... It will just take a good while....

catfish78 wrote: A 1980 el Camino! That won't make it over, and if you could get it over here please note that gas here is around $8 a gallon. If I remember correctly, the mileage was very poor on a early 80s el Camino

It does have very poor gas milage, but the reason he would want to bring it, is because he is just very attached to it. He's pretty much rebuilt the whole thing from the inside, so, even if it stayed garaged, or under a tarp, he wouldn't mind.

Despite all the negative things people on here have listed about Finland, I can assure you, it still doesn't compare to how bad it is here... I'll take expensive things, cold weather, and all that, over everything here any day.